240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Othen

The new map pocket showed up in the mail this morn. It is in quite good condition, but the plastic is so brittle. I think it will clean up very nicely, but I need to think about reinforcing it otherwise the brittle material isn't going to last long as all.

I tried it for size and colour match on the Barge:



... the black is just fine against the Barge's navy blue, so I won't be painting it.

As my dad used to say, “ a blind man would be glad to see it”!🧐

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

As my dad used to say, “ a blind man would be glad to see it”!🧐

... with one eye closed and the other blinking fast it looks okay from a distance

[Moomoo]

That’s the spirit!👍👍👍

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

That’s the spirit!👍👍👍

Silver Spirit?

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

The new map pocket showed up in the mail this morn. It is in quite good condition, but the plastic is so brittle. I think it will clean up very nicely, but I need to think about reinforcing it otherwise the brittle material isn't going to last long as all.

I tried it for size and colour match on the Barge:



... the black is just fine against the Barge's navy blue, so I won't be painting it.

I've reinforced the back with a GRP patch and put it in the airing cupboard to cure overnight:



... we'll see if it turns out okay tomorrow,

[Bob 1967]

A galloping horse would never notice.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Bob 1967

A galloping horse would never notice.

… if it was blinkered.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

I've reinforced the back with a GRP patch and put it in the airing cupboard to cure overnight:



... we'll see if it turns out okay tomorrow,

The GRP patch came out quite well after curing overnight, the resin seems to have adhered well; I think the trick was to apply it to a large surface area to achieve a good bond. I used 2 layers of glass mat, the result is strong but still a little flexible. It is a little bit agricultural, but is invisible from inside and outside the Barge:



The material is quite brittle, and so was tricky to remount without breaking anything. I've decided not to paint the panel, mainly because it is so brittle and might get damaged, but also because the black doesn't look all that out of place in the Barge's navy blue interior:



I used some vinyl paint to touch up where the resin had seeped through the crack, and will probably give it another coat this afternoon, but otherwise I think it is okay.

I'm quite pleased with this little fix; it isn't perfect, but it only cost £8, so I'm counting it as a win.

[Othen]

I've just renewed the Barge's insurance for the year for only £57.59 . That included a £40 multi-car discount from One Call.

Running historic cars is quite a pleasure (sometimes)

[Othen]

The Barge continues to run almost faultlessly, hence no posts recently.

The only issue I have had (last week) was the electric radio antenna only working intermittently. The problem was soon traced to another of those horrible piggy back connectors that had been used (I think 40 years ago) for the permanent live feed. The installer had taken the permanent live from the line that supplies the mercury tilt switch for the lamp in the boot. The horrible piggy back connector was replaced with a maintenance-free joint in about a minute and the intermittent operation issue is banished.

Nothing more to report